


The Chaperoning Chaos of Gyro Gearloose!

by BarracudaHeart, CosmicTanzanite



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Babysitting, Car Chases, Chaos, Comedy, Dating, Everyone Is Gay, Gen, Gyro doesn't like kids and kids don't like him but he's trying, Gyro is both the best and worst babysitter/party host ever, Lena has unaddressed trauma from Magica, Mischief, Panic Attacks, Sleepovers, Sort Of, Takes place sometime after Lena's return from shadow limbo, gyro is big gay brother to two tiny gays by the end of this, gyro swears once but its not bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 19:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16646279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarracudaHeart/pseuds/BarracudaHeart, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicTanzanite/pseuds/CosmicTanzanite
Summary: Mrs. Beakley is called in for emergency business and leaves Webby and Lena with a babysitter who is very last minute AND very unwilling.





	The Chaperoning Chaos of Gyro Gearloose!

“But Granny, we were looking forward to this all week!” Webby whined as she and Lena were sat back in the car towards McDuck Manor. Their weekend trip had just been cancelled thirty seconds earlier, much to the two girls’ dismay, as the car was just about to leave the city.

“I’m sorry, girls. I know you were both very invested in the idea of hiking in the mountains for an overnight, but Mr. McDuck has called for an emergency at the mansion. Something involving Dewey and an industrial tub of glue.” Mrs. Beakley shook her head. “I’d like to skip out on that as much as you, but sadly, this is part of my job.”

Lena folded her arms and grumbled as she looked out the window. “Well, do Webby and I have to go back to the mansion again? You could just drop us off somewhere and we can-”

“Out of the question,” Beakley answered with maternal sharpness. “You two both need an adult chaperone.”

Lena rolled her eyes, and Webby slumped against her with a disappointed groan. “Aww but Granny, we want something to do that doesn’t involve having to stay home.”

Stern as she was, Beakley could sympathise with the girls’ disappointment. And she really didn’t want bored tween girls on her hands when she had to deal with one of the triplets and their trouble.

As the car passed the money bin, she suddenly had an idea and drove towards the parking garage. “I think I know something you girls can do.”

Webby and Lena had carried all of their camping supplies out of the car, and Beakley led them into the elevator, much to their confusion. When the elevator re-opened its doors to the newly refurbished undersea lab, the two girls wandered out and watched as Webby’s grandmother approached the sole occupant of the place, Gyro Gearloose.

“Bentina,” Gyro addressed her without looking up, visibly buried in his work.

“Gyro,” she responded, cordial but cold, “I need a favor of you.”

“If it’s about the blue triplet and the glue, I already told Scrooge that’s not in my job requirements.”

“Neither is what I’m about to ask of you, but I’m going to have you do it anyway,” she responded matter-of-factly. “I’m leaving the girls here since they want to have their sleepover away from home as they had hoped. You’ll have to watch them.”

Gyro looked behind Beakley and saw Webby and Lena unceremoniously dump whatever they were carrying onto the floor with a clatter. “Hi Dr. Gearloose!” Webby greeted loudly, waving at him.

The inventor narrowed his eyes and sat back upright, looking at Beakley and folding his arms. “Sorry. I have plans.”

“Which are?”

Gyro averted his gaze, cheeks flushing a little. “Not your business. And anyway, I’m not a babysitter.”

“Don’t consider yourself a babysitter,” Beakley responded coolly. “Just...consider yourself as a temporary adult chaperone to my granddaughter and my other ward, and that their very lives are in your hands.”

“Not any better,” Gyro grumbled. “I looked after Webby back when I needed money in high school.  My debt to babysitting society is  _ paid _ .” He then reached for his pencil. Beakley grabbed it.

“I know you weren’t fond of looking after Webbigail when you were a teenager. But you’re my last resort, and I’m not asking for much.” She held the pencil up. “The girls know well enough to behave themselves in here, and you can work on whatever little death machines you want...just be warned.” She held the pencil right in front of Gyro’s face. “If anyone or anything causes harm to a single feather on either of their heads?” The pencil snapped. 

Gyro was a smart enough man to know that pencil was symbolic of his fragile spine and suddenly feared for his very mortal soul. He gulped, raising his hands up and flashing a nervous smile.   
  
“Don’t you get your feathers ruffled, Bentina!” he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster under pressure. “I’ll make sure nothing bad ever happens to Webbigail and…..Laura?”   
  
“It’s Lena,” the other duckling informed him.   
  
“Right! I most certainly knew that!” Gyro beamed in fake confidence. “I’ve got this all under control.”   
  
“I sincerely hope you do,” Beakley replied with a nod, walking toward the elevator. Before stepping in, she turned her head around. “Be good for Dr. Gearloose, children. I’ll be back tomorrow.”   
  
“We’ll be on our best behavior!” Webby promised. Lena simply shrugged.   
  
Narrowing her eyes for a moment before melting away into one last warm-hearted smile toward the kids, Beakley stepped into the elevator as it closed. Once she’d left the lab, Gyro looked to the two ducklings in front of him. Now that his plans for the night were officially ruined, he could vent out his frustration into his work...albeit with children in tow.   
  
“Alright,” he began, “we need to go over a few ground rules before I let you two run around my lab all willy nilly like animals. First of all, and forgive me if you’re competent enough to understand basic directions, do  _ not _ touch anything without asking. I am a man of several inventions that, as magnificent as they may be, can and will leave you missing a few limbs if you touch them in a way that’s not so favorable, which is most ways. And I refuse to let your grandmother snap my fragile spine like a twig when one of you gets-”   
  
“What’s this little doo-dad?”   
  
Gyro was cut off by Lena and nearly fell over when he saw what she had. The duckling had picked up Lil Bulb and was holding it by the head, letting its limbs dangle freely underneath it, a position that wasn’t exactly something the robot liked. When the inventor noticed its bulb beginning to glow a bright, angry red, he was quick to snatch his beloved bot from the child’s hands as quickly as possible.   
  
“Ah, ah, ah!” he screeched in warning, holding Lil Bulb close to him in an almost protective way. “That “doo-dad” is Lil Bulb, my most beloved and charming invention yet, and you will  _ not  _ speak of it in such a demeaning way!” He turned his attention back to the robot, cooing to it in a sweet tone. “Did that dreadful little urchin hurt you, Lil Bulb? Did she?”   
  
Lena and Webby exchanged glances conveying that they were rather concerned for the inventor’s sanity as they heard him coddle a robot in such a way. But ultimately, they realized he had a right to be protective of his inventions and shrugged it off, turning their attention back to Gyro.

“What even is there to do down here?” Lena glanced around, seeing that the whole floor was littered with stuff that Gyro had verbally labeled off-limits.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to find something to do that doesn’t involve touching my work or bothering me.” Gyro rolled his eyes and settled back in his chair, letting Lil Bulb hop on his desk. 

“Awww, but that doesn’t leave us many options!” Webby complained.

“Well, your grandmother should have thought that through before dumping you two under my watch and ruining my plans for the night,” Gyro answered smugly, making no effort to mask how much he thought this was an inconvenience. 

“Dude, you literally have  _ nothing _ entertaining down here? Seriously?” Lena crossed her arms, ready to go to war with him in the name of a good time.

Gyro gave an annoyed huff and yanked open one of the drawers on his desk. Rooting through it, he pulled out a tennis ball and tossed it across the floor. “There. Knock yourselves out with that,” he invited flatly and got right back into work, grabbing a new pencil.

Without hesitation, Lena grabbed Webby by the arm and gently but hastily tugged her off in the direction of where the tennis ball rolled, out of Gyro’s earshot.

“We could find some rackets and play tennis-” Webby began until Lena covered her bill.

“Webs, this guy is gonna drive me insane,” she hissed. “There is nothing to do down here, and he’s got the personality of a wet blanket.”

“Aww, Dr. Gearloose isn’t that bad!” Webby smiled. “He used to be my babysitter.”

“Yeah, when you were like 2?” Lena rolled her eyes then smiled mischievously. “I say we make him crack.”

“He’s really gonna be upset…”

“I know! It’ll be hilarious.”

“That seems mean though. I don’t wanna do something that might break his stuff-”

“I’m not gonna break his stuff or anything. I just wanna get a rise out of him,” Lena whispered, looking around for some means of doing so. “Then maybe he’ll let us out of here.”

The older duckling surveyed the layout of the floor and tried to find stuff that Gyro wouldn’t miss. There was a huge pile of papers on the floor by an empty desk.

Okay, that was a start.

Sneaking over quietly, beckoning for Webby to follow, Lena ducked behind the desk where Gyro wouldn’t see her and grabbed some of the sheets of paper. They had writing on them, but she didn’t care much about it. 

Folding it into a paper airplane, she glanced to Webby with a cool grin. “First to land one on his desk is queen boss.”

Webby couldn’t hide her delight at such a creative challenge and was immediately folding papers to create her arsenal of paper airplanes. Lena was impressed at both the speed and precision the younger girl was folding them at.

“Have you been waiting for paper airplane contests or something?” she snorted.

“Maybe,” Webby whispered with a bit of a shy grin. She aimed her first plane in the direction of Gyro’s desk, but it passed overhead by a few feet. Gyro was so invested in his work that he didn’t even notice.

Lena then threw hers, and it went off course, landing elsewhere. The two girls took turns tossing their planes, none of them getting any closer to Gyro’s desk. It was only until Webby got down to her last plane that Lena grinned. “Bet you can’t land it on his hat.”

Webby wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, especially such a daring one. “Oh, I think I  _ can! _ ”

The plane was thrown with such determination and vigor that it whizzed straight through the air and struck an inattentive Gyro Gearloose straight in the glasses.

“You win!” Lena announced in spite of Webby’s mortified gasp.   
  
Before Webby could get a word out, Gyro’s angered glare was set on the two ducklings. He looked as if he was about to say something, but instead, took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses, turning around to face his work. This frustrated Lena to no end.   
  
“Ugh, I was sure we had him!” she grumbled under her breath.    
  
“Heh. Me too,” Webby followed up. “Dr. Gearloose is normally quick to anger. I guess he’s going easy on us because we’re kids.”   
  
“I’ll show him kids.” Lena smirked, looking toward the inventor’s workspace and trying to think of another trick to try.    
  
While the gears in the older duckling’s head were turning, a brief ding was heard. Almost immediately, Gyro picked his cellphone up off his desk and swiped a finger across the screen, most certainly opening a text message. Upon allowing his eyes to scan it, a small giggle left his throat, and a smile spread across his face.    
  
“Here we go.” Lena sped over to Gyro’s desk right as his fingers started to tap against his phone’s keyboard to type a message. “Who ya textin’ there?”   
  
“Ahh!” Startled, the chicken jolted a bit in his seat before turning to face Lena with an annoyed glare. “That’s none of your business!”   
  
“Oh, really?” Using the skills she’d learned throughout the years of doing Magica’s dirty work, the duckling swiftly jumped up a bit and swiped Gyro’s phone right out of his hand. The inventor gave a squawk of surprise and annoyance as she did so.    
  
“Wh-What are you doing!? Unhand my phone, you hooligan!” he yelped, making frantic reaches for the device to no avail until he fell out of his seat and onto his face.   
  
Laughing a bit at the other’s misfortune, Lena took the time Gyro needed to get to his feet to read what the message said. Once she did, her smile only widened. She had struck gold.   
  
“Oooh!” she teased, turning back to Gyro who was now towering over her and brushing his pants off. “Who’s Fenton?”   
  
“My coworker! Now, give me that!” Gyro made another attempt to take the phone from Lena, but the other was quick on her feet, running back over to Webby as fast as she could.   
  
“Lena,” the other duckling cut in, “maybe you should-”   
  
“Why is your coworker offering to bring you food?” Lena asked, running to the other side of the room as Gyro chased her.   
  
“H-He does that!” Gyro sputtered out, face flushing as he gave chase. “It’s annoying!”   
  
“If it’s so annoying, then why are you blushing?”   
  
“Because I-I’m….out of breath, I don’t know, just  _ give me that phone back this instant young lady! _ ”   


Lena had managed to crawl up onto a bookcase, scrolling the text log as she did so, and grinned in devious delight. “Oh my god is he your  _ boyfriend? _ ”

Gyro let out a shriek of fury as he scaled the shelves, reaching the top just as Lena jumped down. “You are invading my privacy, and you are a  _ horrible little child! _ ”

“Oh my god, Webby.” Lena grinned as she walked over casually to the other duckling. “Your grandma screwed him over! He was gonna go on a date tonight.”

Gyro screeched in rage as he was struggling to climb back down the shelf. “Stop reading my texts!”

Lena walked forward as if she were about to hand it over, then slid under Gyro’s legs and ran past him. “PSOIIIIICH!” 

Gyro was close to tearing the feathers on his head off. “Would you give me that back already?!”

“Hey, Webs? What should I tell this Fenton guy?” Lena cackled. “That he has a nice butt? Fancy hair?”

“Lena, c’mon, this is getting too far,” the duckling sighed. “Dr. Gearloose’s love life isn’t ours to meddle with!”

“Thank you!” Gyro spat, rolling his eyes. “Now, can I have my phone back?!”

Lena sent the wall of cowboy emojis she’d been pressing on for the last minute to Fenton and rolled her eyes as she sauntered back over. She tossed the phone at Gyro, who caught it in a furious scramble.

“Buzzkill,” Lena snarked at him, and he gave a very irritated stare right back. He began to angrily press at buttons on his phone.

“So wait, why didn’t you just tell Granny that you had a date tonight and couldn’t watch us?” Webby asked in genuine confusion.

Gyro didn’t even look up, still angrily texting. “Because it’s not any of her business, and maybe Fenton and I aren’t going public with our relationship yet! Did that ever occur to you,  _ Webbigail _ ?”

Webby seemed a little taken aback by his sharp tone with her, and she took a step back, meekly speaking up. “...I didn’t know.”

Even as socially inept as he was, Gyro knew by her tone and reaction that he’d been needlessly cross with her. He sighed, almost sounding apologetic. “I know. Nobody does.”

There was a long awkward silence between all three of them, Lena still glaring defiantly at the inventor. “Dude, I don’t wanna be bored all night! Can we cut out the nerd stuff and do something that isn’t gonna leave us sitting here?”

Gyro was about to answer when suddenly, everything went black.

“Woah!” Webby yelped. “What’s going on?! I can’t see anything!”

A groan exited from Gyro’s throat. “Mr. McDuck likes to save on expenses by shutting the power off automatically every other week it seems, and I have to turn it on manually!”

“It’s super dark down here!” The duckling sounded nervous and began to feel around for some sort of guide. She felt Lena’s arm and gripped it tightly. Webby immediately felt the tension in the other’s muscle.

“Lena?”

Almost sounding startled, Lena spat, “I’m fine. D-dude, turn on the lights already.”

“I can’t yet. I have to go up the stairs to find the fusebox,” Gyro muttered. “Mr. McDuck also likes to save on expenses by having all power in this giant building in one singular fuse box! Yay for me!” The sarcasm was dripping off his voice. He turned on his phone to act as a light source, and headed for the stairs. “If you girls want to stay down here in the dark, be my guest.”

“And miss out on strengthening my night-vision?” Webby cheered. “No way! I wanna come with you!” She tugged Lena along, still feeling the hesitation in her stance. Before she could say anything, the older duckling was following along silently. Gyro used the dim light on his phone to look for the door to the stairs.

“W-Wait, what about the elevator?” Lena piped up suddenly.

“No power. Remember?” Gyro rolled his eyes and carefully began to scale the steps. It was a lot of floors, and in the dark, it was going to seem endless.

“Watch your step,” the inventor warned the girls, voice not especially warm or concerned.   
  
The further the three of them ventured into the dark, the more anxious Lena began to feel. It almost felt as if she was being smothered by the engulfing blackness around her. She took a deep breath to calm herself, able to feel Webby’s eyes fixated on her as she struggled to keep her nerves down.   
  
“Are you okay?” the other duckling whispered, obviously concerned.    
  
Lena gulped and sighed, not wanting to give away her feelings. “Yeah. Don’t worry. ”   
  
However, they were getting harder to hide. Every step she took felt as if she was being strangled against the darkness. It wasn’t a feeling she hadn’t experienced before. Back when Magica still had control of her, everything felt like this. No matter where she went, it was always dark, and she was never alone. Some sort of darkness was always following her. And if she ever made one mistake….   
  
“A-Ahhh!” Lena yelped, letting go off Webby’s hand and walking backward. She almost tripped over a stair but caught herself just as she did. Her breaths were coming out shallow and panicked, and she was sure both her best friend and their reluctant caretaker could hear.   
  
“Lena!” Webby called. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”   
  
“I-I...I…” She tried to speak, tried to say that she was fine, but for some reason, the lie wouldn’t form. Neither would the full truth. “I-I....I’m sorry!”   
  
“Sorry for what?”    
  
“I-I don’t know! I don’t k-know what’s happening,” Lena replied, voice shaking and tears well up in her eyes.

Gyro had stopped in place to see what all the commotion was and froze as he heard the panic and upset. He held his tongue from a biting remark of annoyance, which soon was replaced with a weird sense of anxiety. He didn’t do well with the distress of others.

Taking a deep breath he sighed. “Do you need a moment, Leslie?”

“Lena!”  the duckling spat angrily, still vocally panicked. “Turn the lights on already!”

“We’re almost there,” he assured flatly. “If you need to, you can stay here while I-”

“No!”

Gyro held his tongue and took a deep breath, trying to think of what to do. An idea suddenly flickered to his mind, and he whistled sharply, the noise echoing down the stairs. Within seconds the sound of tiny metal feet clambering up the stairs became louder and louder, making Lena even more nervous for a few seconds until she saw a lightbulb suddenly flicker, propped upon Gyro’s shoulder.

“Thank you for shedding light on the situation,” Gyro greeted Lil Bulb, a little too smug at his own invention. “Now, if you would escort the children while we continue climbing the stairs, I’d be very much obliged.”

Lena was quickly trying to mask her previous panic, rubbing furiously at her face and suddenly felt a tiny tap on her knee. She looked down to see Lil Bulb at her service, giving her double finger guns.   


“See? Everything’s okay.” Webby smiled up at her as well, holding her hand.

Taking in a deep breath, steadying herself again, Lena hoarsely spoke up. “Alright. I’m good. Let’s get this show on the road.”   


Gyro said nothing more. He continued up the stairs as before, the two girls following behind him and Lil Bulb casually sitting on top of Lena’s head, acting as the guiding light.

“How come you don’t need your lightbulb thingy to see in the dark?” Webby asked Gyro curiously.

“Night vision lenses I put in my glasses,” the inventor bragged. “No idea why someone hasn’t invested in patenting the idea before I have. Probably because everyone else is an idiot.”

“Dude, you could try out for Batduck like that,” Lena piped up, having managed to calm herself enough to keep up.

“Or Darkwing Duck,” Webby added, trying to imagine the chicken in that particular costume.

“No thank you. Superhero antics are definitely not my forte,” Gyro spat, almost gagging. He glanced back. “Is Lil Bulb bright enough?”

“Yeah,” Lena answered, relieved she could see the stairs and railing and Webby clearly enough to know she wasn’t in a shadowy limbo hell again. “Uh...hey, Mr. Gearloose?”

“Doctor,” he corrected. “I have a degree.”

“Yeah. Uh...thanks,” the duckling spoke up sheepishly. “For the lightbulb. Sorry for freaking out.”

He only glanced at her a moment, expression not changing as he shrugged. “I don’t like the dark either. Why do you think I like making things with lightbulbs on them?”

Lil Bulb waved its little arms like crazy in pride, amusing Webby, who gave an excitable nudge to Lena as if to say ‘ _ See? He’s not  _ _ so _ _ bad! _ ’   
  
Once they’d reached the fusebox, Gyro was able to turn the power back on easily with the flick of a switch. Lena sighed in relief as the light started flooding back into her vision, and Lil Bulb gave one more salute before turning itself off and stepping down off the duckling. It took its normal place on its creator’s shoulder soon after. She smiled the robot, as if to silently thank it and hope it understood the memo.   
  
“Good as new!” Gyro announced, shutting the fusebox and clapping his hands together. “Now, we can get back to the lab!”   
  
Webby gave an enthusiastic cheer and put a hand on Lena’s shoulder, silently asking if she felt better. Heeding this cue, she gave her best friend a nod of reassurance, which resulted in the other’s eyes lighting up in relief. However, Lena soon found herself wearing a frown.   
  
“Hey,” she spoke up. “Do we have to stay in the lab all night?”   
  
“Unless you want your friend’s grandmother to decapitate me and place my head above Mr. McDuck’s mantle, yes,” Gyro replied in an eerily deadpan voice.   
  
Lena grumbled underneath her breath, hoping the inventor felt sorry enough for her now that he’d actually let her and Webby get up to something. However, another thought became present in her mind, and she tried again.    
  
“Are you sure you don’t wanna see your boyfriend right now, Dr. Gearloose?”   
  
Gyro stopped in his tracks, face flushing at the mention of Fenton. He then gave Lena a glare. “I told you to stop talking about my romantic endeavors without my permission!”   
  
“What? No!” Lena sighed. “I just thought you might be bummed out because you didn’t get to see him is all. Geeze.”   
  
Giving a guilty frown, the chicken breathed out heavily. “Well, I guess I can’t deny that I am a  _ little _ disappointed that Fenton and I can’t go on our outing tonight. I had been looking forward to it, but I’ll live. It’s not like we won’t see each other tomorrow.”   
  
It was obvious that Gyro was very, very upset about the cancelation, no matter how badly he wanted to hide it. Lena knew this and  _ definitely _ planned on taking advantage of it.   
  
“Why don’t we all go then?” she suggested with a shrug.    
  
Gyro froze, not saying anything for a while as the duckling’s proposal processed in his head. When he was finally ready to, Webby cut in with an excited gasp.   
  
“Oooh, like a night on the town?” she cheered. “I’ve only been on two or three of those! Please, Dr. Gearloose! Let’s go!

Gyro looked at the two girls, both of them looking hopeful for an answer. He was about a second away from saying ‘no’ so he could go back to the lab and brood and not have to worry about keeping his eye on two tweenagers beyond his workplace. But the prospect of seeing Fenton like he’d hoped for was tempting. And Gyro would never admit this, but he got nervous about using the elevator back down to the lab right after an outage. It could jostle and snap a cable and make him plummet to his death. And he really didn’t want to go back down the stairs again.

So with laziness and paranoia being pretty damning arguments, Gyro sighed and looked at the two girls. “If either of you dares leave my sight, we’re coming straight back here, understood?”

Webby cheered in shrill delight, almost loud enough to rupture Lena and Gyros’ eardrums. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“I call shotgun,” Lena piped up, rubbing at her ears.

“Ha. No, Lil Bulb here gets passenger seat,” Gyro declared, almost proud. “Its car seat is there.”

Lil Bulb waved its arms from its place on Gyro’s shoulder, and Lena looked right at it, then at Webby, silently trying to tell her friend that, in spite of his good deeds, Dr. Gearloose was still a frickin’ lunatic.

Lena and Webby both tried and failed to not laugh at the tiny seat put atop the passenger seat in front for the little robot. Piling in the back, they were crammed in-between the boxes of junk and various loose articles Gyro had packed in his car.

“Dude, do you live in this thing?” Lena asked, trying to keep a stack of Xerox boxes from tipping on her as it was sat in the seat.

“Of course not. It’s just storage,” Gyro huffed as he leafed through about 59 assorted keys for the one to start his car.

“Ooh, can I have this?” Webby asked as she held up a banjo.

“No!” Gyro yelped. “Put that down!”

“You gotta play it for your boyfriend tonight,” Lena insisted, almost teasing.

“How about no,” the chicken answered flatly and warned the girls to be careful of any objects in the car that may move as he pulled out of the parking garage and onto the road. “I don’t want to be held responsible for any possible concussions.”

“How old is this car?” Lena could feel it shaking and wobbling, probably on its last leg.

“I don’t even know,” Gyro admitted. “I got it off Eggslist.”

“Ah yeah, the site where you sell used bikes or get murdered.”

“YOU CAN GET MURDERED ON THE INTERNET?!” Webby gasped.

“Ohhhhhh,” Gyro groaned, rubbing his face.   
  
Lena smiled, still taking in just how terrible the inventor’s car was. It looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment.    
  
“Why did you choose this car?” she asked, starting to get a little nervous about how rackety the vehicle was. “You really couldn’t find anything better?”   
  
“Wh-ohhhh! You think I bought this thing to drive? Ha!” Gyro shook his head. “I purchased this car to potentially turn into the Gearloose Underwater Vehicle, a car that can drive both on land and underwater with just the simple press of a button! However, the first prototype resulted in a week-long stay at the hospital for poor Launchpad, so I scrapped the project and had this left over. I just use it for storage now.”   
  
“Wait,” Webby piped up, “so….where’s the car you drive to work every day?”   
  
“I don’t have one.”   
  
“What!?” Lena gasped.   
  
“I normally just take the bus,” Gyro continued. “I can never seem to pass that blasted driver’s test! Every time I take it, for reasons even I can’t figure out, I freeze up, start screaming and hit a pole or a tree or a street performer, but we don’t talk about that time. I think I actually might be banned from the DMV in Duckburg.”   
  
“You don’t have a fricken’ driver’s license!?”   
  
“No, but don’t worry! I only freeze up during the test,” the chicken reassured her. “Every time I drive without pressure, I do absolutely fine! Wait, which side of the road are you supposed to drive on when you’re going toward something again?”   
  
“We’re dead,” Lena whimpered, putting her head in her hands. 

For several minutes though, the drive was incredibly uneventful. The roads weren’t crowded, and in spite of the doubt he’d instilled in the girls earlier, Gyro was driving pretty steadily and blabbering on about whatever he was interested in, even though it was honestly putting the two ducklings to sleep.

“And that, children, is why when you encounter a primitive civilization in your carpet, you do not, as their god-king, allow them to overthrow you! I made that mistake, and what a foolish one! Now they burn me in effigy every month, and I still get pin pricks on my body from the tiny poisoned darts they launch-”

Before Gyro could go on any further, a car swerved past them to get up in front of the red light ahead of them. It came close and fast enough to jostle Gyro’s car, and he had to swerve to ensure they wouldn’t hit. Webby yelped as a box tipped, and Lena almost fell forward.

Gyro got his bearings together quickly and angrily honked the horn as he shouted out the window. “Hey  _ asshole _ ! There’s kids in this car!”

“Dr. Gearloose!” Webby exclaimed shrilly both amused and mortified. “You swore!!”

“Oh my god!” Lena was laughing. “Do it again!”

“Absolutely not, and I implore you not to tell your grandmother about this because I-” Gyro’s reply cut off as he caught sight of the other driver angrily stepping out of their car and slamming the door. They were walking over towards his car, and Gyro quickly made out the large hulking frame and a scowl covered by a simple band-mask. And then he saw the others exiting the car from the passenger side.

“Ohhh dear, it’s the Beagle Boys,” Gyro muttered under his breath.

“Uhhhh….Dr. G?” Lena reached for Webby to grab her hand as dread came across both their faces.

Without a word, Gyro suddenly put the car in reverse and hit the gas to back away rapidly from the impending thugs. Once he was out of their bounds, he put it in drive and drove as fast as the car possibly could past them. 

“SO LONG, DUNDERHEADS!” Gyro screeched out the window, gleeful at his own maneuver to escape.

“They looked pretty mad!” Webby gulped.

“They were indeed, and now they are eating my dust,” the inventor responded smugly.

“I...wouldn’t be too sure of that,” the duckling murmured in sudden terror as she looked out the back window and saw the previous car at high speed getting nearer and nearer.

Gyro looked in the rearview mirror and shrieked, slamming on the gas as hard as he could.

“They’re gaining on us!” Lena cried, staring into the bright red lights of the car.

“You don’t think I noticed?!” Gyro almost laughed incredulously. He was swerving in an attempt to shake off the approaching car when it’s nose reached his bumper. 

The Beagle Boys’ car hit Gyro’s car in the rear, but it managed to give it a push forward, out of touch. The impact was enough to make the girls scream and Gyro curse again. Fumbling for buttons while also trying to keep his eyes on the road, he began pressing at whatever he could.

“This isn’t time for the radio!” Webby yelped as she heard static.

“It’s not the radio!” Gyro announced, and as the girls turned their heads to look out the back window, they saw a small projectile fire out of where the tailpipe should be. It landed on the road under the wheels of the Beagle Boys and exploded, sending them spinning enough for Gyro to gain some distance.

“What was that?!” Webby and Lena both shrieked.

“Oh, I forgot to mention!” Gyro called out over the noise, proud at his own achievement. “I tried to make my underwater car useful in  _ submarine warfare _ !” 

He fired another on the road when the Beagle Boys approached again, and Webby shouted over the explosion, “YOUR CAR CAN FIRE TORPEDOES?!”   


“THAT IS AWESOME!” Lena cackled, watching the Beagle Boys swerving to avoid all the  smoldering residue on the road.

Gyro pressed the radio button to fire another shot but heard nothing. He pressed it again and again then frowned. “Drat! Out of ammo.”

Just as he spoke, the Beagle Boys’ car was catching up again.

“What do we do?!” Webby looked to Lena.

“Quick! Let’s throw stuff at ‘em!” Lena plotted, grabbing for all of the stored junk in the boxes.

“MY stuff?!” Gyro shrieked incredulously.

“What else do we have?” Webby countered, already rooting in a box.

“Ugh, fine! Banjo is off limits though!” Gyro screeched as he simultaneously sped down the road and tried to shake off the other car.

Webby and Lena threw various pieces of metal, tools and junk at the car behind them, getting a few hits. Lena then held up a teacup.

“That’s my mother’s tea set!” Gyro exclaimed, looking in the back seat for a moment.

“So I can’t throw it either?”

“I  _ hate _ my mother! Throw it in that driver’s  _ big ugly mug _ !” the inventor demanded, now focused on driving like a bat out of hell.

During this time, Lil Bulb had jumped out of its seat and was rooting in the glove compartment. Among all the random junk Gyro had thrown in there, it had managed to find a road flare. Jumping out onto the side of the car, it kept itself balanced on the trim as it dragged the flare along the road, setting it ablaze and threw it with the same spirit it would throw a Molotov cocktail. It crashed through the windshield of the Beagle Boys’ car. Webby and Lena and Gyro all watched as the car swerved off the road far behind them and into a ditch, a large fireball erupting.

“Do you think they’re okay!?” Webby had her face pressed against the window.

“Who cares?” Lena cried. Gyro laughed maniacally in victory.

“That was awesome!” Lena cheered, high-fiving Webby, only for their celebration to die very quickly as they saw blue and red flashing lights coming up from behind very quickly.

“Uhhhhh, guys?” Webby spoke up.

Gyro felt his blood run cold as he saw the lights, and his hot rage went out like a wet towel. “Ohhhhhhhhhh no.”

He immediately stepped on the gas again, trying to speed away from the police as fast as he could. He spoke up, starting to slowly panic. “Normally I wouldn’t do this, but I don’t have a license, and I most certainly do not want your grandmother to kill me!”   
  
As Gyro sped up, so did the cop car. Before he knew it, he was going so fast that he couldn’t easily take control of the steering wheel. He gulped, seeing an approaching pole right in front of him. While it was possible for him to swerve and miss it, the calculations he made his head said that he’d wipe out and hit a gas station. A pole was slightly better than that, but it still put the kids in danger.    
  
“Dr. Gearloose!” Webby squeaked. “We’re gonna hit that pole!”   
  
“Swerve or something, man!” Lena ordered.   
  
Clenching his teeth, he heaved a deep sigh, knowing what he had to do. “Lil Bulb, hop into Lena’s lap! Lena, hold onto it tightly.”   
  
The robot did as its creator ordered, and confused looks made their way to both of the ducklings’ faces. Gyro kept his eyes on the road, still headed toward the pole.   
  
“Seriously, man, what are you-”    
  
Lena’s panicked voice was cut off as the inventor pressed a bright red button on the car’s dashboard. Too quick for either of their minds to process it, the seats Lena and Webby were in flew out of the car and into the air at top speed, a sunroof opening in order to allow them to do so. The two ducklings screamed as they were catapulted into the air, Lena holding onto Lil Bulb as tightly as possible.

Right when Webby and Lena thought for sure they’d fly straight into the sun without stopping, parachutes popped out from the back of the seats and brought them safely to the ground. They had a very gentle landing a few feet away from the pole. Once they were both on the ground again, the situation sunk in, as well as the fact that they’d survived, and both of them sighed. That was until they realized an important detail: Dr. Gearloose was nowhere to be seen.    
  
Gulping, they looked to the pole. His car was against it, the hood crumpled up indicating that it had indeed crashed into it at top speeds. And Gyro didn’t make it out in time.    
  
Lena felt her heart sink at the implication and flashed a worried glance to Webby, who looked like she was about to cry. Lil Bulb made a sudden buzzing noise, tugging at Lena’s shirt.    
  
“Huh?” she asked the invention, turning her stare back to the car just in time to see the door burst open. Gyro basically fell out the side door as if he was made of liquid, panting and letting out a loud groan of exasperation. He had grime on his face, probably some bruises, and his clothes had a few tears in them, but otherwise, he was still in one piece.

He looked over to the girls and slouched in exhausted relief. “Oh good. The seats worked.”   
  
“Dr. Gearloose!” Webby exclaimed in relieved excitement, instantly running over to him and giving him a hug.   
  
“Ow, ow, ow!” the chicken yelped in pain, causing Webby to let go.    
  
“Sorry,” she apologized, brushing some hair out of her face.    
  
“Dude, you’re alive!?” Lena asked, setting Lil Bulb on the ground next to her and rushing over to Gyro.   
  
“Compared to some of the other things I’ve survived, this is a walk in the park,” he announced rather confidently, adjusting his cracked glasses. “I knew I’d be fine, but I wasn’t about to let a bunch of children get involved with a car crash. That includes you, Lil Bulb.”   
  
The invention buzzed again in response, kicking Gyro’s shoe.    
  
“Sorry about your car.” Webby looked at the wrecked vehicle, which gave a dying sputter.   
  
“Oh, please,” Gyro said with a wave of his hand. “I hardly ever drove that thing. What really matters is that this baby survived.” He held up the banjo from earlier that had just fallen out of the seat next him, beaming. “Everything else can be replaced.” A string on the banjo immediately snapped, and Gyro’s smile froze.   
  
“Nice.” Lena smiled. “So, I guess we should probably get going before it gets too-”   
  
“Gyro!?”   
  
A new voice startled the duckling from her words, and she noticed that Gyro was starting to get rather pale in the face, as if a ghost was standing behind them. She turned around to see a duck in a police uniform with short, curly brown hair standing there with a shocked look on her face.    
  
“Oh yeah,” Lena grumbled, having forgotten they’d been on a wild police chase before the crash.   
  
“Wait,” Webby piped up, turning to Gyro, “do you know her?”   
  
The chicken gulped, and Lena noticed the expression on the officer’s face turning to a scowl of disapproval. “Webbigail, Lena,” he said, voice cracking a little in fear, “this is Officer Cabrera.” A few seconds later, he whispered an aside. “Fenton’s mom.”   
  
“Ohhhhh….” both replied in unison, grimacing.   
  
“Yikes,” Lena added.

In spite of what Webby was hoping, being acquainted with Fenton did not put Gyro off the hook with Officer Cabrera. In fact, it seemed to make her even more strict on the law and driving recklessly without a license was pretty illegal. After a “fun” ride in a police car, the two girls were sat on a bench outside the jail cell where Dr. Gearloose was slouched inside. 

“I’ve called your grandmother, and she’s coming to pick you two up,” Officer Cabrera told the girls, and Webby stared at her lap.

“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” She glanced to Lena, then to Officer Cabrera.

“Not as much trouble as he is.” The officer tried to make the worried girls smile a little, thumbing to Gyro in the jail cell.

“Wow, thanks,” Gyro muttered, looking displeased. He didn’t want his final hours being spent in a jail cell, and then his resting place being the dumpster behind the station when Mrs. Beakley was finished ripping out every bone in his body.

Officer Cabrera went to go answer the buzzer at the front desk, and Gyro looked to the girls on the bench. “I’ll tell your grandmother that everything was my idea and my fault straight up. I really did make quite a mess of things.”

“Dude, are you kidding?” Lena stood up and walked over to the bars. “You torpedoed a car and led a police chase! You’re a frickin’  _ badass! _ ”

“And you saved our lives!” Webby added. “So Granny can’t be too mad at you for this!”

Gyro stared at the girls for a moment, then sighed, resting his chin on his hand. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I doubt she’s going to be very happy that we got into this mess to begin with. And that this all could have been avoided if I just told everyone about-”

“Gyro what happened?!” a voice cried as the door from the entrance area opened. “M’ma told me she had you here.”

“Fenton?” The chicken’s voice was soft with genuine surprise, sitting up on the cell bench.

Lena leaned over to Webby to whisper as she saw Fenton approach Gyro’s jail cell. “I thought he’d be taller.”   
  
“There you are!” The duck sighed in relief, standing directly outside the cell. “What did you do this time?”   
  
“I-It wasn’t anything too bad,” Gyro admitted, face flushing as he spoke. “I just went a little bit over the speed limit. And children may or may not have been involved. And torpedos.”    
  
Fenton frowned, shaking his head. “When will you learn?”   
  
“Probably never.”   
  
“Figures.” 

He rolled his eyes, sulking in his seat. “I guess you’ll have to visit me in here now. I’m sure you never envisioned dating a prisoner, but I’ve been thinking up ways for us to make it work! For example, you could write me-”   
  
“Gyro, it’s okay!” Fenton cut him off, laughing a little as he moved to make way for his M’ma. She pulled keys out from her pocket, unlocking the door to Gyro’s jail cell and motioning for him to exit.   
  
“You better give that boy a dozen red roses because he just bailed you out,” she spoke sternly as the chicken nervously got to his feet and left the cell.   
  
Gyro’s eyes fell on Fenton, and he frowned. “Wait. You paid?”   
  
“Yeah,” the duck grumbled. “She made me.”   
  
“Hey!” M’ma exclaimed, putting her hands in the air defensively. “He’s your boyfriend, not mine!”   
  
Rubbing his arm and feeling rather guilty, Gyro sighed. “I’m sorry, Fen. I’ll see if I can talk Mr. McDuck into-”   
  
“Wait, did you just call him Fen?” Lena giggled from the bench.   
  
“That’s really cute, Dr. Gearloose!” Webby followed.   
  
Gyro’s face was almost entirely red as he endured the girls’ teasing, Fenton’s turning a similar color as well. “Oh yeah,” he groaned. “They know about….us. The pink-haired one confiscated my phone.”

“I guess that explains the huge wall of cowboy emojis I got out of nowhere?” Fenton held up his phone to show Gyro, and he tried not to laugh. “I spent like twenty minutes trying to decipher if it was a secret code or if you just butt-texted me.”

Gyro shot a dirty look at Lena who remained smug at her own deed. He then turned back to Fenton. “I’ll make it up to you somehow. We’ll just have to plan another date...childfree,” he muttered in his ear.

Fenton took advantage of the close distance to lean in and give Gyro a quick smooch on the cheek. “I’ll hold you to it. Now, how about I drive you home?”

“Actually,  _ I’ll _ be driving him home, if that is alright with you, Mister Cabrera,” a voice from behind them spoke up. Gyro felt every organ in his body turn to soup as he saw Mrs. Beakley had arrived to pick up the girls.

“O-Oh,” Gyro gulped. “Bentinaaaaaaa….well, my apartment is in the opposite direction of where you live, so maybe it would be best if I-”

“Oh,  _ no _ , Dr. Gearloose,” Beakley pressed. “I  _ insist _ .”

Gyro wished he had created the mind controlled pen he’d been sleeping on so he could mentally write down his last will and testament. He gave an awkward wave goodnight to Fenton who waved back, looking slightly confused at his boyfriend’s fear, and Gyro nervously followed Beakley and her wards out.

Webby nudged Lena, looking guilty. “We have to tell Granny it was our idea to go driving.”

Lena made a reluctant face. “But if she kills him, I could nab the retro hat he’s wearing and-”

“Lena.”

“Fine fine,” the older girl grumbled, and the two climbed in the back seat. At least they would be an audience to the lashing Gyro was probably going to receive.

Gyro wondered for a split second if it was too late to run when Beakley opened the passenger door for him, but he gulped and got inside, scared stiff of the woman who said she would be driving him home. Mrs. Beakley closed the door behind her as she sat in her seat and collected her thoughts. But before she could open her beak, Webby spoke.

“Granny, before you say anything, we just wanna say everything that happened tonight was our fault! Dr. Gearloose was just trying not to let us be bored or get hurt by the Beagle Boys, and-”

“Webbigail.”

“But she’s right!” Lena added. “And _ yeah _ , he’s an absolute weirdo, but he’s a weirdo who saved our lives back there! So like...don’t actually maim him or anything.”

“If you would let me-”

“If you’re going to get mad at him, you have to get mad at us too!” Webby insisted.

Gyro didn’t much appreciate being called a weirdo, but it was the thought that counted. But it also made him feel incredibly self conscious, and he was bright red again. He didn’t think his night would end with two tween girls coming to his defense, but here he was, faced off with hellfire by the name of Bentina Beakley.

“Girls,” the matronly woman sternly cut off their testimonies as she began driving. “As I was about to say, I’m not going to “maim” Dr. Gearloose.”

“Oh. Good,” Gyro sighed under his breath.

“I am however going to admonish him for driving without a license and being a reckless driver!” she then sternly snapped at him. “Good god. You thank your lucky stars that you had the wit to install ejector seats with parachutes in that car because if you hadn’t I would have you under  _ this _ vehicle, and your feathers decorating the tires right now.”

“Well, what else was I supposed to do?” Gyro folded his arms, feeling insulted that his intellect was being questioned. “Make the car steel-plated?”

“You could have taken the  _ bus _ !” Beakley rolled her eyes. “I swear you like to make your life harder for yourself. You didn’t even tell me you had a date or were even in a relationship! Otherwise, I might have not left the girls with you.”

The inventor grumbled. “Look Bentina, I grew up in a town where my kind of relationship would not have been fondly looked upon if it were public, and I like to keep my personal life private. I doubt you’d understand.”

“I  _ do _ understand that,” she responded, stern but sympathetic, “but you’ve known me a long time. Do you really think I would have responded negatively if you’d have told me?”

Gyro looked at his lap. “...I guess not.”

“And even if you did mess up in taking the girls in your  _ death-car _ , I guess I should have expected something like this. All of the children we know around here can be more than enough trouble, and they’re always bound to get into some sort of misadventure. Especially these two.” She gestured her thumb back to the girls.

“We know that, but  _ hey _ !” Lena frowned.

“And you are Duckburg’s chief mad scientist. Your inventions are responsible for about 80% of the chaos that happens around here.”

“It’s only 48% last I calculated,” Gyro muttered with an annoyed look.

“But even with all that chaos, caused by you or not...you kept the girls from being harmed. Which really was all I wanted of you.”

Gyro was surprised at the sudden turn in tone of the conversation. “...Seriously? You’re not going to snap my spine?”

“No,” she sighed in exasperation. “I asked you to watch the girls and not let them get hurt, and you did both those things….albeit it was very unorthodox.”

“Huh...well...you’re welcome.” Gyro folded his arms, trying not to look too proud of himself.

“Can we stay with Dr. Gearloose again, Granny?” Webby asked excitedly. “That was way more fun than when I was little!”

“We have to help him pick out flowers for his next date,” Lena added smugly, taunting the scientist.

Gyro was shaking his head and mouthing a series of frantic “no”s to Mrs. Beakley, who glanced at him, then at the girls. She smiled dryly. “I don’t see why not.”

“YES!” Lena and Webby cheered.

It took all the strength of a god-king for Gyro not to curse loudly the entire ride home.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Credit/Shoutout to lechepop on tumblr for his adorable headcanon of Gyro having babysat Webby when he was a teenager. I totally want to actually write more on that at some point because Gyro being the big grumpy gay brother/uncle (bruncle) to people is A+ ~barracuda


End file.
